Three Broken Promises is the third book in Monica Murphy’s Drew + Fable series. This spin-off book deals with Colin and Jen, who we meet in book two of the series. I absolutely loved books one and two in the series which deal with Drew and Fable’s story. Therefore, I was excited to read this one knowing that this author’s writing is something that I quite look forward to. Well, I am sad to report that this one disappointed me. Sigh. Perhaps it was my high expectations seeing that I have enjoyed this author’s previous works. Perhaps not. *insert sad face here*

Jennifer Cade and Colin Wilder have known each other for many years seeing that Jen’s older brother, Danny, was best friends with Colin growing up. Colin now lives with an immense amount of guilt because Danny was killed while on tour in Afghanistan. Colin was supposed to be with him, be there for him, and he wasn’t. Now Colin is determined to live up to the promise he made to Danny, a promise to protect Jen and be there for her. Colin feels he has failed at this as well. Since finding Jen in some dire circumstances and bringing her to live with him and work at his restaurant, Colin is trying desperately to atone for his mistakes.

Colin and Jen now co-exist with one another. They live together, work together and are essentially friends. They both harbor deeper feelings for one another but are afraid to verbalize them. Jen feels like she is a burden on Colin and while she is thankful for what he has done for her, she feels like she needs to move on and stand on her own two feet. After all, Colin does not seem to be into her the way she secretly desires so there is no point in her staying where she is. Colin, on the other hand, loves the fact that Jen lives and works with him. He wants her desperately but refuses to act on his feelings because of his obligation to Danny and guilt over his death. The only comfort and intimacy he allows himself with Jen is when she crawls into his bed after he has had a bad nightmare. Neither one of them speak of this despite its regular occurrence.

Both Colin and Jen are keeping secrets. Both of them refuse to communicate with one another. Both of them long for something real and deeply profound with the other. That. THAT....is my issue with this book. Here we have two individuals who care for one another but they are unwilling to voice how they truly feel and continuously miscommunicate. Instead, they both are willing to walk away from what they can possibly share. Even when they become intimate with each other and have some hot-as-shit sexy times, they still refuse to communicate about how they are really feeling! Talk about frustrating. Gah!!!! I am all for some angst in books but this essentially went on for the entirety of the book. Only towards the end do Colin and Jen finally get their shit together and finally decide to give things a go. By that point, I was so irritated with the two of them that I simply no longer cared.

All in all, Three Broken Promises was just too maddening for me. Too many dumb-ass decisions on both Colin and Jen’s part were made and had me wanting to pull out my hair. With all this being said, I will state that the writing is stellar. My rating for this book has nothing to do with this author’s writing skills. She is a wonderful author and I will continue to read her books. This one just fell short for me.